


Saving Stark

by JustAnotherFan05



Series: One Shots: An Avengers Collection [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Action, All Friend Relationships, Avengers - Freeform, F/M, Natasha Romanoff/Clint Barton - Freeform, Natasha Romanoff/Maria Hill - Freeform, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Rescue, Steve Rogers/Clint Barton - Freeform, Team Up, The Mandarin - Freeform, Tony Stark/Natasha Romanoff - Freeform, hostage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 05:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15789789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherFan05/pseuds/JustAnotherFan05
Summary: When some of the Avengers meet up in Miami, Florida to take down the villain, Aldrich Killian, things don't go as planned and the group of heroes are forced to use their powers outside of the super suits to save one of their friends.





	Saving Stark

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> You know, I was thinking, I haven't posted a one shot that wasn't domestic/fluffy... And though this isn't Pepperony based, it is Avengers based, and I figured some of you might enjoy it. Believe it or not, but this one shot is completely based off a dream I had a last night... Yeah, weird, I know. 
> 
> So, here it is! I hope you enjoy reading and thank you again for the support!

“Comm check, everyone report,” Natasha Romanoff spoke into her wireless earpiece as the entire team continued to gear up in the small hotel room.

“Rogers, check,” Steve Rogers reported in, tightening the handle on the back of his shield.

“Barton, check,” Clint Barton called, checking his quiver filled with arrows one more time.

“Hill, check,” Maria Hill said, clicking in a full magazine into her second hand gun.

“Okay, everyone, we all remember the plan, right?” Natasha clarified, sliding her weapons into her side holster.

All four team members gathered in a circle, looking at each other confidently. They only had one shot to get this right, and their friend’s life literally depended on their success.

“Romanoff and I will exit first, heading through the dining hall to take down as many spies as we can,” Hill started.

“Right, and me and Rogers will meet you two at the elevator shaft, where we’ll have to descend in a hurry to reach the outer exits,” Barton continued.

“Hopefully, we won’t run into too much trouble, and once we’re outside, it’s a quick run across the yard and we’ll be at the front door of Killian’s hideout,” Rogers finished the basis of their plans, hoping it’ll work out.

Natasha looked between the four of them. “Someone remind me again how we got stuck in this… hotel room?” she sighed, looking around at the five star hotel room they were all in.

“Stark,” the three team mates said simultaneously, shaking their heads together, remembering how they all got here.

Eight hours ago, Tony Stark invited the four of them to his hotel room in the center of Miami, Florida, telling them that he needed to see them for a quick meeting before they all embarked on their missions in Miami to find Aldrich Killian, aka The Mandarin.

However, upon their arrival, the four team members realized Tony had already been kidnapped by Killian and was using Tony to draw them all in to his trap. Now, Killian had escaped with Tony downstairs to a small shack at the back of the hotel, giving the four Avengers a timeline of twelve hours to complete his ransom before Killian would kill Tony.

If that wasn’t annoying enough, Killian had stationed his Extremis super soldiers all over the hotel to keep an eye on the four heroes, making sure they didn’t do anything stupid before Killian got his money. So, the Avengers were trapped in a hotel room, surrounded by fire filled soldiers, on a mission to save their friend.

“Let’s do this,” Rogers nodded, earning a short nod from each of his team mates in return. They were all dressed in their civilian clothing, but somehow, they always managed to have their weapons on them at all times, which meant they needed to do this as discreetly as possible.

“Good luck,” Barton said as Natasha and Maria walked out the door, heading downstairs to the first level of enemy guards.

Natasha and Maria took the elevator down one floor, waiting patiently until the soft bell rung, alerting them that they had reached the amenities floor where the dining hall was located. With a quick shared look, the elevator doors opened, and as soon as they were in view, the Extremis soldiers saw them and then, all hell broke loose.

“There they are!” one of the soldiers yelled, alarming his friends, as a group of twelve fire soldiers turned to face Natasha and Maria.

“Get them!” another ordered, and instantaneously, the fire party began as everyone started shooting at one another.

Natasha ducked behind a half wall, while Maria hid behind a rather large post. With their expert skills, the two shot into the crowd, shooting down a few super soldiers, but the Extremis made it harder to bring down their enemies. Each Extremis soldier could absorb bullet after bullet, only causing them to slow down, but not die.

“We need a better plan!” Maria yelled across the hall to Natasha as they continued to fire towards the enemies advancing on them.

“We _need_ to get to Steve and Clint!” Natasha corrected, firing a shot and hitting an Extremis soldier in the head, but he simply stumbled back a few feet then continued on with the fight.

“How are we going to _kill_ these guys?” Maria asked her teammate, running out of bullets quickly and knowing soon, they’d be overrun.

Natasha looked around at her surroundings quickly, remembering they were in the _dining hall_. She turned her head and saw the large kitchen just on the other side of the room, and she knew exactly what to do.

“We need to kill fire with fire,” Natasha mumbled to herself, and without another moment of hesitation, she ran across the enormous room towards the kitchen.

Maria continued to keep the soldiers distracted, firing into them over and over again, as Natasha stood up and pulled the fire alarm. Immediately, the entire hotel sounded with the panic alarm, and within minutes, everyone was evacuating.

Natasha continued to run through the room, jumping over the center kitchen counter and sliding across the marble, falling behind the divider and landing in the kitchen. She searched for the one thing she was looking for, and when she finally spotted it, she ran towards the canister and grabbed the largest one.

She carried it back over the kitchen counter and into the dining hall, looking over at Maria. “Get down!” she yelled to her friend, and as soon as she saw Maria safely hiding, she tossed the canister as far as she could. It landed at the feet of a gaggle of Extremis soldiers, then Natasha took out her gun and shot at it, hitting it instantly and quickly crouching behind the half wall.

The moment her bullet hit the canister of gas, the entire thing blew up and effectively put down nine of the Extremis soldiers. The dining hall was catching on fire faster than Natasha and Maria could stand, but as soon as the blast was over, the two friends got to their feet and rushed out of the room towards the elevator shaft.

“We heard an explosion!” Clint told them as they all rendezvoused at the elevator. “Are you two okay?”

Natasha nodded quickly. “We’re fine, but those Extremis soldiers won’t stay down for long. We have to go, now!” she told the team.

She didn’t have to tell them twice, as Steve pried open the elevator doors and noticed the elevator was about ten floors above them. And with the fire alarm going off, they weren’t going to be able to catch the next one down anytime soon.

“We have to jump,” Steve said, turning back towards his team.

It didn’t take much convincing either, since all four of them were trained… well, heroes. One by one, they jumped down the elevator shaft to the bottom floor beneath them, successfully completing the twelve foot jump without any injuries.

Steve pried open the next set of elevator doors, and they all quickly made their way down the long hallway to the single door on the other end.

Clint made it to the door first, pushing it open and being surprised by an enemy standing on the other side. “Ugh!” he grunted, hitting the man with the door multiple times until the enemy soldier fell onto his back, knocked out.

“Wow, Clint,” Natasha smirked. “I didn’t know you had much skill outside of your arrows,” she teased, earning a quick eye roll from Clint as they all pushed past the door, stepping over the unconscious body.

Finally, they all made it outside and rushed across the small yard towards the bigger-than-expected shed where Killian was supposedly holding Tony hostage.

Before they rushed into the room, they all grouped up, collecting themselves as the women rearmed themselves.

“I only have four more bullets,” Maria said, looking up at Natasha.

Natasha pulled out her two hand guns, noticing one was fully empty and the other only had two bullets left. “I’ve got two.”

“Great, how are we going to do this with six bullets and three of my collapsible arrows?” Clint asked, looking even more worried and stressed out.

“We’ll do it like we do everything else,” Steve started, looking confident. “Together.”

At this point, there was nothing the team could do beside have hope and use their remaining resources wisely. For a short moment, they all looked up at the sky, watching the sun set on the beautiful summer evening. If only everything had gone to plan, they could all be sitting by the pool sipping on margaritas. This only advanced their hatred for The Mandarin.

“On three,” Steve said, being the point man as they all lined up against the door. “One…”

With Clint behind him, an arrow ready in his bow, the team took a deep breath. “Two…”

“Three,” Steve called, moving in front of the door and kicking it down with anger and power, stepping to the side as Clint moved in first, shooting an arrow perfectly into the head of the closest enemy. Then, Maria stepped in, firing two of her last four bullets, knocking down another enemy in the corner. Followed by Natasha, who shot one of her last bullets to take down the final enemy on the other side of the room.

In the midst of the firefight, Killian moved swiftly to stand behind Tony, who was strapped to a wooden chair with ropes around his wrists and ankles and a large piece of duct tape over his mouth. Killian pulled out his gun, pushing it against Tony’s chest, as Tony mumbled loudly through his tape restraints.

“Everyone hold on!” Killian yelled, causing all four heroes to pause with their weapons drawn towards Killian, the last enemy standing between them and their friend. “This was _not_ the deal!”

“Since when do we agree to the terms of a villain?” Clint asked, his eyes watching the Extremis leader through the sights of his bow.

Killian sighed and shook his head, looking utterly disappointed that his plans didn’t go through properly. “Since the day I kidnapped your leader,” he explained, pushing his gun deeper into Tony’s chest.

Tony mumbled more, trying to either distract Killian (which wasn’t working) or tell his team mates something (which also wasn’t working).

“Let him go, Killian,” Steve ordered firmly, standing in front of the team with his shield held to protect them. “It’s over.”

Killian stood there for a second, as if pondering his options. “No, I don’t think it is,” he shrugged, and Steve barely noticed the flicker of Killian’s eyes before he turned around and found that two of the previously downed Extremis soldiers have gotten up again.

“Look out!” Steve yelled at his friends, protecting Natasha from getting punched with his shield before they all scrambled, looking for cover.

Another firefight began, but this one was short lived, as Natasha fired her last bullet at one’s head, but hardly put him at pause. Maria shot her last two rounds towards the other enemy, making him stumble back a few feet, but the soldier’s attack continued.

Tony knew he had to do something before these fire filled soldiers killed his friends, so with Killian slightly distracted with watching his minions battle the heroes, Tony stood up quickly and turned around, knocking Killian over with the back of his chair.

With Killian on the ground, Tony slammed his back against a nearby wall with such force, it broke the wooden chair, allowing Tony to quickly untie himself from his restraints. Now, with his hands and legs free, he pulled the duct tape off his mouth.

“Watch out!” Tony yelled towards Steve, who didn’t see an Extremis soldier running at him. Steve turned around as Clint shot his last arrow towards the enemy, knocking him down momentarily.

Tony turned again and made his way toward Killian, who was rubbing his head and standing up slowly. Tony quickly searched the room and found a gun lying beside the hand of an unconscious enemy soldier. He immediately scrambled for it, falling onto his hands and knees.

His four team mates were currently fist fighting the two Extremis soldiers, losing terribly as the hot flesh of the fiery enemies burned their hands.

By the time Tony reached the gun, Killian was already on his feet, standing above Tony with his own gun drawn at the iron hero. Tony turned around, aiming his gun at Killian, creating a Mexican standoff.

“Look at you, Tony,” Killian scoffed, shaking his head at Tony beneath him. “This would’ve all worked out just fine, if only you had given me what I wanted.”

“Like the old saying goes,” Tony disagreed, still aiming towards Killian. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” he finished, aiming his gun to the right of Killian’s head and shooting the gas line, allowing a smoky colored gas spray at Killian’s face.

But before Tony could stand up, Killian shot off a round of his gun in a panic, raising his arms to cover his face as he stumbled back.

There was an audible grunt, followed by the shuffle of footsteps, then Tony was reunited with his four friends, quickly ushering them outside of the shed. Once everyone was at a safe distance, Tony pulled a grenade out of his pocket (something he stole off the man with the gun a few moments ago), pulled the pin, and chucked it towards the giant box of gas.

Within seconds, the entire shed exploded, bursting into a giant flame of fire, appropriately killing Killian and his remaining Extremis soldiers inside. Behind them, the rest of the hotel was going up in flames, assuring them that the remaining soldiers from the dining hall were also dead.

After a moment of silence, all of the catching their breath, Natasha turned to Tony, who looked oddly pale for their recent victory. “Tony?” she asked, watching Tony’s eyes glass over.

All of a sudden, Tony fell to his knees, being caught by Natasha and Steve who were standing closest to him. “Stark? What’s wrong?” Steve asked him, lying him down carefully on the ground.

Maria and Clint turned around, joining them on the floor, as Natasha looked over Tony quickly. “He’s been shot!” she exclaimed to everyone, noticing the bullet wound in Tony’s chest.

Time stood still for the shortest second, but to the five of them, it felt like a mini eternity. Then, everything started happening so fast.

“Tony, stay with me,” Natasha ordered him, taking her jacket off and using it to apply pressure to his wound. “Someone call for help!”

Maria instantly got up, taking out her cell phone and dialing for an ambulance. Steve and Clint helped Natasha keep Tony awake as she assessed his wound.

“It looks like the bullet is still in there,” Natasha noticed. “I don’t see an exit wound,” she continued, prodding around Tony’s chest.

“Fuck!” Tony yelped in pain when Natasha hit too close to his injury. “That hurts, Nat!”

“Sorry,” Natasha apologized. “I have to take it out…” she said, looking at Tony. They both knew that the bullet couldn’t stay in Tony’s chest for too long, especially that close to his heart, or else one false move and it would kill him.

“I know I stopped drinking a long time ago,” Tony mumbled. “But you don’t happen to have some Scotch on you, do you?” he asked with a stuttered chuckle.

“I’m sorry, Tony,” Natasha apologized again, not having anything to numb the pain. And with the hotel _and_ the shed on fire, she didn’t have much to extract the bullet except for the small, extremely limited first aid kit she always had on her.

Tony took a labored breath and nodded at Natasha, signaling her that it was alright. “Do it.”

With Steve and Clint’s help, Natasha opened her tiny first aid kit including a pair of tweezers, a stitching set, and a small gauze wrap. They were all set to remove the bullet when Tony stopped them.

“Wait,” Tony put his hand up weakly. “If I don’t make it,” he started, about to be interrupted by Natasha, but he continued nonetheless. “If I don’t make it, just tell Pepper I love her.”

Natasha nodded with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Tony,” she rested her hand on his shoulder. “You’ll be fine.”

With her reassurance, Tony gave her one last tired smile before nodding at her to continue.

There were loud yelps of pain, screams of discomfort, and cries of misery, but after a few long minutes, Natasha got the small bullet out of Tony’s chest and covered the wound with the small gauze wrap.

A few minutes later, an ambulance showed up and helped Tony onto the stretcher, bringing him in for a proper set of stitches and a large dose of pain medication.

Pepper Potts rushed into the hospital faster than a bolt of lightning when she heard what happened to Tony, pushing past the group of doctors and nurses. “Where is he?”

Natasha heard Pepper from a mile away, walking over to her and leading her to Tony’s private hospital room. “He’s fine,” she reassured her friend as they walked through the hallways. “He was shot, but we removed the bullet, and he’s under a lot of pain medication right now, so he’s a little out of it.”

Pepper nodded, thanking Natasha quickly before she entered Tony’s room, finding herself alone with her boyfriend.

“Pepper?” Tony asked, noticing her familiar figure entering his room. “Is that you?”

“It’s me, Tony,” Pepper reassured him, moving to stand at his bedside, holding his hand in hers gently. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I shouldn’t be alive,” Tony admitted, smiling tiredly up at Pepper. “Natasha and the doctors said the bullet was less than two inches away from my heart.”

Pepper honestly didn’t have any words to say to Tony, not knowing how she would react to having Tony shot, let alone knowing he was so close to death.

“But I’m alright,” Tony continued, noticing her silence. “They stitched me all up, and now, I feel a lot better, don’t worry.”

Tony raised his hand and ran her fingers over Pepper’s cheek, admiring her beauty as he does every day. Pepper held his hand against her cheek, smiling down at him. “I love you, Tony.”

“I love you too, Pepper,” Tony replied quickly. “I’m so sorry this all happened like this. We were supposed to be on vacation.”

“It’s alright Tony,” Pepper assured him. “Besides, our hotel is currently burning down, so our vacation would’ve been cancelled either way.”

Tony laughed weakly, coughing at the pain in his chest. “Oh God, this is why I can’t leave those guys alone for more than a few minutes,” he said playfully, referring to his team mates.

Pepper shook her head, laughing softly. “They did it all for you. I would’ve burned down the building too if it meant saving you.”

“I know you would,” Tony agreed. “That’s why I have Jarvis to make sure you don’t go full fury mode whenever you hear that I’m in a bit of a pickle.”

“I hope you know I have a few protocols of my own to counter Jarvis’ limitations,” Pepper smirked.

Tony pretended to look shocked, gasping in a mock surprise. “That traitor!” he accused Jarvis, shaking his head. “I’ll have to have a few words with him once we get home.”

Defeated, Tony fell back into the comforts of his hospital bed, letting the medicine consume his body as Pepper moved a chair to sit beside him. They fell into a comfortable silence, until Tony whispered something under his breath.

“Didn’t even get an ‘oh you’re okay’ kiss,” Tony muttered, pouting like a young child.

Pepper heard it, standing up immediately and moving to lean over Tony, pressing her lips against his with love and passion, closing her eyes and listening to Tony moan softly. Their kiss got more heated by the second, until Pepper full on straddled Tony, sitting over him with caution of his injury. The couple continued with their make-out session, with Pepper feeling Tony physically relax under her touch.

The rest of the team was standing outside of Tony’s room, secretly listening in on Tony and Pepper’s conversation through the heavy wooden door, giggling like school children.

They knew that all the work and risk was well worth it to hear the couple reunited. And even though there were a few unwanted complications, overall, Operation Save Stark was a success.


End file.
